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Environment rights groups said on Wednesday that the climate change adaptation planning has barely been integrated into the national budget 2013-2014. A national climte commission should be formed for appropriate integration of climate adaptation, which is necessary for the country's survival. They were speaking at a press conference on "Budget 2013-14 does not comply with climate adaptation", jointly organised by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan (BAPA), the Climate Change Development Forum (CCDF), Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihood (CSRL), Coastal Development Partnership (CDF), Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh (EquityBD), Network on Climate Change Bangladesh (NCCB), VOICE, PRAN and HumanityWatch.

Mostafa Kamal Akanda and Syed Aminul Haque of EquityBD, Farzana Akhter of VOICE, Mizanur Rahman Bijoy of the NCCB and Atiqur Rahman Tipu of the CDP spoke on the occasion. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD moderated the press conference.

Syed Aminul Haque, reading out from a keynote paper, described agriculture and healthcare as most important areas with regard to climate adaptation.

He pointed out that the government has reduced the budget allocation for the two sectors this year, compared to the previous year.

Civil right groups EquityBD and VOICE have criticized United Nation High Level Panel (UN HLP) report on post 2015 agenda for development terming it "as lofty goal and empty bowl."

At a press conference held at National Press Club, leaders of these organizations said the report is far from meeting the needs of the transforming economies. The release of the UN HLP report on June 30 in New York was chaired by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Indonesian President Dr. Susilo Bambang and Liberian President Alen Johnson Sirlef.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury and Ahmed Swapan Mahmud spoke on the occasion.

They said the report has over emphasized the role of free market and private sector financing to attain the goals and in doing so it failed to strike a balance between private sector and public sector financing.

They said free market is responsible for producing poverty and global inequality and this in turn is only widening the gap between rich and poor. Private finance always looks for profit and it can't be used to establish equity and justice.

[Dhaka, Tuesday, 4 June 2013] Civil society right groups network EquityBD and VOICE in a press conference held at the city’s national press club criticized United Nation High Level Panel (UN HLP) report on post 2015 agenda terming it “as lofty goal and empty bowl” and said that the report is in fact a far short in transforming economies. The UN HLP report has just published on 30th June 2013 in New York. The UN HLP was co chaired by UK Prime minister Davide Cameron, Indonesian President Dr. Susilo Bambang and Liberian President Alen Johnson Sirlef. Moderated by Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, chief coordinator of Equitybd, the position paper was read out by Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of Voice.

Speakers criticized the UN HLP report for over emphasizing on free market and private sector financing for development. They said the report has not been able to strike a balance between private sector and public financing. They urged that free market notion is responsible for reproducing poverty and global inequality and widening the gap between rich and poor. They have also mentioned that generically private finance always look for profit rather than growth with justice and equity.

Beyond 2015, a global civil society campaign on the post-2015 development agenda which brings together more than 700 organizations in over 100 countries welcomes the UN High Level Panel’s ambitious report on the post-2015 agenda.

Reacting to the launch of the report, Neva Frecheville of CAFOD in the UK and co-chair of Beyond 2015 said “Civil society has been clear on the need for a universal framework to replace the MDGs in 2015. The High Level Panel has reiterated this demand, and this will hopefully galvanise action in both developing and developed countries, helping tackle the underlying causes of global poverty, inequality and environmental degradation and thus shifting the current development paradigm. We applaud the Panel for its boldness in pushing developed countries to reform trade, tax and transparency policies, to tackle illicit capital flows, to regulate global financial and commodity markets, and to prompt large multinational corporations to report on the social, environmental, and economic impact of their activities. These actions, more than aid alone, will help bring about the transformation required in this world. For this vision to become reality there needs to be a major change in political will and in global cooperation, and that will be the real challenge.”

A divisional level workshop titled `Towards Ensuring Better Results and Accountability of Foreign Aid: Reaching out to Stakeholders’ has been held in Cox’sbazar, Bangladesh on 9 May 2013 jointly organized by the Economic Relations Division with support from the multi-donor supported Aid Effectiveness Project being implemented. It was co-financed by AusAid, Bangladesh Government, Danida, DFID and UNDP. The workshop was attended by various stakeholders such as key district administration officials, heads of all major government offices in the district, local government representatives such Mayors, Upazilla Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen, academics, civil society representatives and media. The workshop aims at spreading out the aid effectiveness agenda among cross section of stakeholders, thereby creating a national demand for result oriented and transparent development cooperation in Bangladesh.

A day long training workshop on `Privacy, Human Rights and Communication Surveillance: National Laws, Practices and Safeguards’ has been held on 27 April 2013 at the CBCB (Catholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh), Dhaka.

The workshop discussed the issues of privacy and communication surveillance along with the existing practices on legal and policy regulations to raise critical awareness and develop perspective with the human rights framework. It discussed how to build a broader constituency creating capacity and strengthening networking through raising voices to uphold privacy rights being critical on communication surveillance in Bangladesh.

A report on freedom of expression online and right to internet access in Bangladesh which has been published by VOICE in January 2013.

This report analyzes the situation in Bangladesh based on the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. It investigates the country situation on what extent online freedom of expression in Bangladesh confirms the standards of national and international laws and policies.

This report draws the overview of the internet in Bangladesh describing the access and infrastructure, service quality and internet exchange gateways. It also describes the overview of United Nations Special Rapporteur Frank’s La Rue’s report and highlights the assessment of the recommendations while the report assesses the prevailing situation. This report also briefly discuss the political and human rights situation, policy framework of the internet in Bangladesh including the Telecommunication Policy of 1998, Telecommunication Act-2001, and the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT).

A training workshop on `Privacy, Human Rights and Communication Surveillance: National Laws, Practices and Safeguards’ will be held on 27 April 2013 at CBCB (Catholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh), 24/C Asad Avenue, Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207.

The workshop aims at broadly discussing the issues of privacy and communication surveillance along with the existing practices on regulations to raise critical awareness and develop perspective with the human rights framework. It also aims to build a broader constituency building capacity and strengthening networking through raising voices on the privacy rights issues.

The workshop will be attended by grassroots activists to national including CSOs, NGOs, journalists, academicians, lawyers, rights groups, online groups, consumers, trade unions, IT companies and relevant professional bodies.

A world forum of civil society organizations is urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to push for greater state responsibility to ensure people’s welfare, especially in developing countries.

Discussions on a global post- Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) still “lean to a market-based development approach, which means the expansion of the market that minimizes the responsibility of the state,” Sugeng Bahagijo of the international NGO the Indonesian Development Forum (INFID), said on Monday in Nusa Dua, Bali.

“The trend is for each country to recognize voluntary action in implementing the global development framework [which] is not binding and would be detrimental to the people. The responsibility of states must be laid out clearly through a binding universal mechanism,” Sugeng added.

A 24-member advisory panel will meet on Tuesday after discussions on Monday between scholars, representatives of the public sector, civil society organizations and youth organziations.

On Wednesday two of the three cochairs of the Bali High Level Panel, Yudhoyono and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, will conclude the talks, while cochair UK Prime Minister David Cameron will participate by video conference.

Members of the UN high-level panel meet in Bali this week. Tax evasion is expected to feature in the discussions

Tax evasion by multinationals and corrupt leaders has emerged as a key issue ahead of the third substantive meeting of a UN high-level panel to discuss a framework for development after 2015.

The theme of this week's meeting in the sweltering Indonesian resort island of Bali is global partnership, the orphan child of the millennium development goals (MDGs). Devoid of clear targets, MDG8 talks in general terms about an open, rule-based trading and financial system, dealing with debt burdens, providing access to affordable essential medicines, and increasing access to new technologies. Goal eight also mentions fostering links between the public and private sector to drive better development.

Yet momentum is building up among NGOs, poor countries and some rich countries to ensure that developing countries build up their tax base at a time when aid flows are under pressure, notwithstanding Britain's commitment to meet, this year, the UN target of spending 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on aid.